The Friday Night Fellowship

The Saint John Chrysostom Friday Night Fellowship Meeting aims to discuss and exploring important foundations of Orthodoxy throughout our lives. It is important to understand what it means to be an Orthodox Christian and understand the life of the Church which is central and foundational to the life of the Orthodox Christian. The philosophy of the Chrysostom meeting is building our parish in the fundamentals of Orthodox thought, and to describe the mystical understanding of the Coptic Orthodox Church.

If the objective is the kingdom of God, then what is our goal to reach that? The goal is a pure of heart. Throughout this discourse, we discuss what we need to have a pure heart in order to achieve our objective.

As the old proverb goes "one Christian is no Christian". In this series we spoke about the importance of the assembly of Christians, which is known as the Church. For the Orthodox Christian, Salvation is the Church.

In this series we looked at the importance of a personal life of Prayer in conjunction with the public or corporate worship of the Church. A Christian is the one who prays and as Christ says, we enter into our rooms and close the door - a personal relationship, yet united to the greater whole.

In this series, we explored the various petitions of the Lord's Prayer and their significance for the daily life of an Orthodox Christian. The Lord's Prayer, is the ultimate and most perfect prayer for the Christian.

During Lent in 2015 we went through every week, contemplating the Gospels of the Sundays of the Great and Holy Fast of Lent, in order to understand the message and the path in which the Church was leading us as we moved towards the Glorious Week of Pascha and the Feast of the Resurrection.

Saint John Chrysostom

Our father among the saints John Chrysostom (347-407), Archbishop of Constantinople, was a notable Christian bishop and preacher from the fourth and fifth centuries in Syria and Constantinople. He is famous for eloquence in public speaking. He also had notable ascetic sensibilities. After his death he was named Chrysostom, which comes from the Greek Χρυσόστομος, "golden-mouthed." The Coptic Orthodox Church honours him as a saint (feast day, November 24). He is also counted among the Teachers or Doctors of the Church, together with Saints Athanasius the Great, Cyril of Alexanderia, Basil the Great and Gregory the Theologian.

Quotes

"In the matter of piety, poverty serves us better than wealth, and work better than idleness, especially since wealth becomes an obstacle even for those who do not devote themselves to it. Yet, when we must put aside our wrath, quench our envy, soften our anger, offer our prayers, and show a disposition which is reasonable, mild, kindly, and loving, how could poverty stand in our way? For we accomplish these things not by spending money but by making the correct choice. Almsgiving above all else requires money, but even this shines with a brighter luster when the alms are given from our poverty. The widow who paid in the two mites was poorer than any human, but she outdid them all."

"For Christians above all men are forbidden to correct the stumblings of sinners by force...it is necessary to make a man better not by force but by persuasion. We neither have autority granted us by law to restrain sinners, nor, if it were, should we know how to use it, since God gives the crown to those who are kept from evil, not by force, but by choice."

"When an archer desires to shoot his arrows successfully, he first takes great pains over his posture and aligns himself accurately with his mark. It should be the same for you who are about to shoot the head of the wicked devil. Let us be concerned first for the good order of sensations and then for the good posture of inner thoughts."

"Even if we have thousands of acts of great virtue to our credit, our confidence in being heard must be based on God's mercy and His love for men. Even if we stand at the very summit of virtue, it is by mercy that we shall be saved."